MUSC 1800: Popular MusicLate 20th Century Song Form

Dr. Matthew C. Saunders

Lakeland Community College

C-1078

New Formal Structures

• Songs designed for radio

– Traditional Tin Pan Alley-style songwriting emphasized a single pass through the form of a song

• Recordings were repetitions of this form (as in Gene Autry’s recording of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer)”

– Beginning in the 1950s, songs tended to be written in their complete forms as they would be heard on a recording

New Formal Elements

• Expanded Tin Pan Alley form– A-A-B-A structure becomes longer

• AB-AB-CC-AB; 16-bar units instead of 8-bar

• Verse-chorus structure returns (influence of country music)• New Terms

– Intro: Easily recognizable beginning of a song– Outro: Ending that often “fades out” for radio play– Bridge: Now means contrasting material appearing later in a

song– Prechorus: material between the verse and chorus that builds

dynamics– Hook: short part of a song designed to be memorable; often

the song title, but not always

New Popular Song Forms

• Examples

– The Beatles, “Ticket to Ride,” 1965

– The Ronettes, “Be My Baby,” 1963

– Kathy Mattea, “Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses,” 1987

– Taylor Swift, “Love Story,” 2008

The Late 1950s: Memory vs. Reality

• Youth appeal

• The Kingston Trio

– “Tom Dooley,” 1958 (#1 Pop Charts, November 1958)

• What were people listening to?

– Billboard.com— “Hot 100”

Billboard Top 10—November 22, 1958

1. “Tom Dooley,” The Kingston Trio2. “It’s Only Make Believe,” Conway Twitty3. “Topsy II,” Cozy Cole4. “It’s All in the Game,” Tommy Edwards5. “To Know Him, is to Love Him,” The Teddy Bears6. “Beep Beep,” The Playmates7. “Chantilly Lace,” The Big Bopper8. “Lonesome Town,” Ricky Nelson9. “Queen of the Hop,” Bobby Darin10. “I Got a Feeling,” Ricky Nelson